Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As I said, I welcome this opportunity to engage on the important topic for farmers and our farming sector of water quality and the nitrates derogation. In my opening statement, I would like to address three key points. I will first provide an update on developments since I last engaged with this committee. I will also set out the next steps in implementing the derogation decision. Finally, I will highlight the need for a clear focus on actions that will deliver improvements in water quality from now on in order that Ireland will have a strong hand to play in an application to renew the derogation, a process which must commence in 2025.

The committee will be aware that negotiations on the derogation in 2021 were particularly difficult. The backdrop to these discussions included increasing dairy cow numbers over the previous period, increasing use of chemical nitrogen and an increasing trend in nitrates levels in water. The context of any negotiation is also increasingly difficult as fewer member states have a derogation and those with a derogation are seeing reduced limits, given the approaching 2027 deadlines under the water framework directive. Against that background, securing a renewal of the derogation at all was extraordinarily challenging. As a condition of the renewal decision, the Commission insisted on a mid-term water quality review and a step-down in the limits of the derogation in areas that would fail any one of our four identified water quality criteria.

The water quality review required a report to be completed by the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, and this exercise resulted in a map showing the areas that failed the criteria as set out. This was completed in line with the Commission’s implementing decision and the resulting map was submitted to the Commission on 30 June. Following this mapping exercise, I asked my officials and their colleagues in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to engage with the Commission services to seek more time before any reduction was necessitated. Thereafter, I personally sought a meeting with the Commissioner, Mr. Sinkeviius, on the matter.

To fully represent and capture stakeholder views in advance of my engagement with the Commissioner, I engaged extensively, including seeking submissions from the agriculture water quality working group. Those views, which were reflected in my engagement with the Commissioner, include identifying the unique nature of our pastoral systems, the potential for adverse impacts arising from the Commission decision, the efforts being made by farmers in recent years and, most important, the Government's focus on bringing all stakeholders with us to achieve our shared ambition of delivering improved water quality.

The Commissioner made it crystal clear that he was not prepared to reopen the Commission decision of March 2022, the formal legal instrument that granted a derogation to Ireland. He also made it clear that only three member states had a derogation and that Ireland's derogation was the most generous of the three.

The Commissioner identified some very limited scope, within the strict confines of the existing Commission decision, to interpret elements of the mapping. The impacts of this exercise will be marginal. It would be misleading and wrong to suggest otherwise. My Department has committed to concluding it by the end of this month so that derogation farmers will have the definitive information necessary to make their plans. This is certainly not the outcome I had hoped for. It clarifies the situation, however, and I am committed to moving quickly in terms of engagement with stakeholders to bring clarity to farmers impacted as well as the broader industry as soon as practically possible. To that end, my Department will issue interim 2023 nitrogen and phosphorus statements to all farmers in the coming days. These figures will be based on cattle numbers on farm up to the end of August and, therefore, represent the most up-to date information available.

As stated, I understand and very much appreciate the challenge this change represents for those farmers who are impacted. However, it is important that I also outline that there are actions that impacted farmers can take.

Farmers will be supported through this period. My Department has engaged directly with Teagasc and private consultants this week to provide farmers with the necessary assistance to manage their way through this period.

I cannot speak to members today without addressing the absolute need for all stakeholders to work together on the shared objective of securing a renewal of our derogation from 2026 onwards. Ireland's derogation is an exception to EU rules provided for in the nitrates directive. It cannot be taken for granted and it must be recognised that water quality improvement must be at the heart of Ireland's robust defence of our derogation facility. It will never have been more critical for the Government, industry and farmers to work together over the next two years to deliver water quality improvements and facilitate maintaining the derogation at the maximum limit possible. Leadership from all stakeholders is required here.

On recognising the challenge, earlier this year I set up the aforementioned agricultural water quality working group, involving industry, farm representatives and officials across several Departments and agencies. The group is working on three key areas currently, which I very much support. The first is connecting farmers and water quality data locally, the second is improving compliance and indeed the enforcement of current regulations, and the third involves actions and measures we can take as part of this year's review of the nitrates action programme to support the objective of improved water quality. The group has engaged intensively since it was established in May. It is important that I recognise its work as I see it as critical to building a collaborative approach.

This is not the only action that I have taken on water quality. As members know, earlier this year I approved all applicants under the agri-climate rural environment scheme, ACRES, which includes many actions farmers can take to support improvements in water quality. More recently, I have confirmed the eligibility of all applicants under tranche one in the targeted agriculture modernisation schemes, TAMS, and the introduction of a system that will facilitate the prioritisation of approvals for those intending to construct slurry storage. In addition, the work of the agricultural sustainability support and advisory programme, ASSAP, continues, with 42 advisers providing free advice to farmers in areas identified for priority actions. I recently announced a €60 million contract with the local authority waters programme, LAWPRO, delivering a specific support for water quality actions. This will provide funding directly to farmers, focused on a locally led approach of working with farmers and industry using the right-measure-in-the-right-place approach. Following enactment of primary legislation on a fertiliser database, I am delighted to confirm that, in recent weeks, 106,000 farmers have registered on this important resource for farmers in calculating their fertiliser use. This is a very strong signal from farmers of their commitment to overall delivery on sustainability.

In conclusion, we now need to work together to deliver water quality improvement and ensure we approach the end of the current derogation period with confidence regarding our application for a further derogation.